Alaska Quiet Rights Coalition

REPORTS OF INTEREST     Reports on OHV and Snowmachine Use NRDC, in its 2004 Spring Journal Issue, released a report by Jack Hope, "Hell on Wheels" describing how bigger, faster OHVs are driving Americans from the wilderness. The Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club released a report in 2001, "Shredded Wildlands All-Terrain Vehicle Management in Alaska" by G. Ray Bane discussing OHV impacts on Alaska's federal and state lands and agencies efforts (or lack thereof) to deal with the motorized usage. The Wildlife Conservation Society released a working paper prepared by Leslie N. Karasin "All-Terrain Vehicles in the Adirondacks: Issues and Options" in April 2003. Available for download from http://www.wcs.org/adirondacks/ Tread Lightly! Inc. has developed a series of guides to educate the outdoor enthusiast to be responsible in their use of recreational vehicles on public and private lands. The guides address responsible ATV riding, four wheeling, mountain biking, trail biking and snowmobiling. See www.treadlightly.org. The Federal Highway Administration, at the request of the national Recreational Trails Advisory Committee, has produced "Conflicts on Multiple-Use Trails; Synthesis of the Literature and State of the Practice" which summarizes existing research on trail conflicts, approaches for promoting trail sharing and identification of gaps in our current knowledge. The publication is identified as No. FHWA-PD-94-031  HEP-50/9-94 (IOM)E The National Park Service released a report, ORV use in Alaska National Park System Units, in February of 2003. Swan View Coalition's Snowmobiling's Endless Winter: Facilitating Physical Access Extends the Snowmobile Season, Resulting in Harm to Wildlife Security, Vegetation, Soils, and Water, released in August of 2002, documenting the impacts of snowmobile use the extends into summer and resumes in the fall. The Native Forests Network's report Tracking Snowmobile Trespass documents illegal use in wilderness and roadless areas. Defenders of Wildlife's report, Out of Control, details the adverse impact of ORVs on National Forest land in Florida. The Sierra Club and Native Forest Network released a report on May 13, 2002 titled "Motorizing Yellowstone: An investigative Report of ORV use within Gallatin National Forest," which is the first to document damage from off road vehicles to a whole national forest -- Montana's Gallatin National Forest -- with photographic evidence and comments from business owners, biologists, hunters and anglers. The Isaak Walton League released a report in February, 2002 titled "Caught in the Treads: Unethical Advertising in the ATV Industry," which addresses the industry's advertising campaign highlighting that too often the ads promote unethical and environmentally harmful use of its vehicles. The Wilderness Society releases a bimonthly newsline on the state of off-road vehicles across America called the Vroom Report.

New Research Available From Responsive Management on Public Attitudes Toward Fish, Wildlife and Natural Resources and Participation in Hunting, Fishing, Boating and Wildlife Viewing

Specializing in opinion and attitude research on natural resource and outdoor recreation issues
January 2005

Responsive Management completed more than 40 surveys in 2004, including many studies on how the public values fish, wildlife, and natural resources, what they think about natural resource and outdoor recreation issues, their participation in outdoor recreation, and attitudes toward specific issues, such as the management of deer, bear, big game, and other wildlife, studies of hunter, angler, and boater motivation and expenditure studies, a study of tribal values and lands, an assessment of messages encouraging the use of PFDs, numerous organizational marketing and communications assessments, and many more. 
 
 
Visit the Responsive Management web site at www.responsivemanagement.com for additional information and reports. Be sure to click on "Natural Resource and Outdoor Recreation Research" on the left of your screen and check out research findings on 23 different topic areas-from hunting, fishing, boating, wildlife viewing and other outdoor recreational activities to numerous natural resource topics, such as coastal resources, endangered species, forest resources, water resources, wildlife, economics and many others. At the top of each research topic page is a link to a list of reports on that topic that you can download.